*Iulia Cazan, IYc Co-Director & Teodora Paul, President of Students of Life Bucharest @2026 March for Life in Bucharest*

April 23

Romania sets aside an entire month to focus on the pro-life cause. Throughout the country, the Month for Life brings together hundreds of events that celebrate life and support mothers facing unplanned pregnancies. The month wraps up with March For Life events in cities across Romania. IYc joined the activities in Bucharest, where we were inspired to see so many young people working to build a culture that values life. This year’s theme? Solidarity for both!

Photo Credits: Students for Life Bucharest

March for Life 2026

The 2026 March for Life took place on a rainy, chilly Saturday in Bucharest, but people still came together to stand up for the value of every human life from conception. The event ended with speeches and a concert, sharing messages of hope, courage, and encouragement to get informed, speak up, and support mothers in crisis. The talks covered many sides of the pro-life cause, including stories of lives changed by support programs, the important role men can play in supporting life, an overview of how the human heart develops, and the impact of adoption services.

The March was largely youth-led and was described by Maria Cenzin, founder of Pro-Life Europe, as one of the most special ones she has attended in Europe.

Teodora Paul

Teodora Paul, the event organizer, began her speech by clarifying the true meaning of the year’s theme, Solidarity for Both. “The word solidarity comes from Latin. Solidus means solid, whole. In Roman law, in solidum meant that each person was responsible for all, not only for their own part. Simply put: we do not leave anyone alone.”

Mara Epuraș

Mara Eupuras talked about her experience working at a maternity center where she got the chance to get to know women from all walks of life, with different needs and stories, from “pregnant women without support, mothers with children fleeing abusive and fear-filled relationships, women who simply no longer have a place to live. And most of the time, they arrive not only without a roof over their heads… they arrive without trust, without safety, without hope.”

Mara shared that “change does not depend on how big you are, but on how much you care” and that she had first-hand experience with women whose outlook on life began to change once they were met with “support, counseling, concrete assistance, and guidance.”

“They begin to believe in themselves, they begin to see that there is an alternative for the future, and, perhaps most importantly, they begin to feel that they are no longer alone. And that changes everything. This is what solidarity truly means—the solidarity we are speaking about today: not only saying that we stand for life, but truly standing beside it where it is most difficult […] Life is not defended only through words, but through what we choose to do for it every day—through how we respond when someone needs help, through the courage not to pass by indifferently because sometimes, for a mother, the difference between despair and hope is not a speech… but a person who chose to be there,” Mara continued.

Cristian Budău

Cristian Budau opened up about a decision he regrets from when he was 27. At that time, he offered to pay for an abortion for his girlfriend when she found out she was pregnant.

Cristian explained that, in more than 90 percent of cases, if a woman feels the man next to her takes responsibility, she chooses to keep the child, and encouraged men to recognize the profound influence they hold in those moments.

“That means that we, men, are not half of the story […]And yet, most of the time… we leave the woman beside us—our girlfriend, our wife, our partner—to carry everything alone. If you are a man and someone in your life is going through this right now—stop. What is needed from you is simple: Do not push her toward a choice that her soul does not want. You push her through your silence. You push her through your distance. That is what I did.“I am here. We will go through this together.” Nine words. That would have been enough. I did not say them. […] Dear men, I am telling you this from the position of someone who can no longer turn back time. I cannot return to that moment. But you can avoid ending up where I am now. Choose life.”
-Cristian Budau

Maria Czernin

Maria Czernin, founder of ProLife Europe, leads a movement that sparks conversations about abortion through online trainings, campus outreach, and public events. Her group champions the right to life from conception, using both scientific insight and philosophical reasoning.

“The biggest enemy of the cause we carry in our hearts…is fear. Fear of being misunderstood. Fear of not making a difference. Fear of being rejected for our opinion. Fear of being too small to face such hatred.”

“Truth gives life. Truth enables life. So let us raise the standard of our words. Let us not be afraid to speak what is good, what is true, what is beautiful. And if we ever remain silent —let it only be to mourn: the babies lost to abortion, the women pushed into it, and the fathers who had no choice.”

Maria encouraged pro-lifers to share their convictions because each conversation has the potential to save lives.

Larisa Negru

Larisa Negru lost her mother when she was young. When it became too hard for her father to care for her and her ten siblings alone, he decided to have Larisa adopted by another family. Larisa was adopted at age six and said, “In my life and in the lives of my two younger brothers, two wonderful people appeared—the ones who would become our parents. The moment they took us home felt so natural that from the instant we got into the car, a new life began for us. God had given us other parents, whom from the very first moment we called “mom” and “dad.”

“Through their sacrifice and unconditional love, our parents lifted my brothers and me. They gave us a home—not only a physical place, but a space of the heart, where we learned that true love goes beyond every trial,” Larisa continued.

Larisa referred to adoption as a “birth from the heart” and said, “If I have learned anything from my life, it is that each of us can become someone’s hope. We do not have to do great or extraordinary things. It is enough to be present, to be a helping hand, to be the voice that says: ‘You are not alone.’”

Story of the Heart

Sandra Otavă explained the stages of the human heart's development, from the earliest moments in the womb to just before birth. Her main point was that being smaller does not make a life less valuable.

“Every life is a gift, and the heart is a symbol of life. Let us protect the hearts of all children who beat together with their mothers’ hearts. Because…our first love story was between two hearts that were only 40 centimeters apart.”

The March for Life in Bucharest: Solidarity for Both - Part 2